Official Winning Eleven 8 Impressions - No Chatting!

[larsson]

Great news, a member from our German board pes3.de, who is half-Japanese, is now in Tokyo and played a 5 min match of WE8 today

I´ll try to translate his impressions, it´s not much, but he can tell us something about the gameplay and other stuff he noticed. Keep in mind that this guy hasn´t played WE7:I. I´ll keep his point of view in this translation, so it´s not me who has played it


The crowds look a bit better than in WE7, also the player models are slightly improved graphically. Graphics in general also sharper, however no big improvements there. I can say nothing about the atmosphere in the stadium because the sound was turned off.
I played very defensively, so nothing happened in the first 30 mins, except a few "discussions" between players after harder fouls, that´s what we´ve seen quite often on the screenshots, then I tried to play like in PES3, used the wingers, crossed and had some headers, but it wasn´t as effective as in PES3. Despite of different informations the dashing is very similar to PES3.
In the second half I noticed 2 wrong decisions by the ref, first the advantage rule spoiled a big chance for me, then I got a red card after a tackling from the side.
I scored the only goal in the 88th minute after a corner, the keeper missed to catch the cross, however it was a mistake by my opponent, who came out with the keeper manually.
In general I can say, less fouls after tackles than in PES3, it´s harder to dribble around defenders compared to PES3, however, once a fast player runs past a defender it´s always impossible to catch him, unless you foul him, and even that is quite difficult. Animations are better, especially when you run and change the direction it looks more realistic. Passes seemed to be a bit faster than in PES3.


That´s all info guys, I don´t have more, he could play only a 5 min match, so please don´t ask about the ML system, the shop or which teams are in. It´s simply impossible to answer that at the moment. I dunno if he even will get the chance to play a second time before he comes home.
I´m going to close this thread, because this is for impressions only, and since no one from here has this game it´s not necessary to leave it open, but if you played the game too please contact one of the Admins, they will post your Impressions in this thread.
I´ll re-open it a few days before the official release. If you want to discuss about this do it in the other thread.

 

[larsson]

Ok, I saw WE8 on display in Tokyo, which is where I am now. Though I did not get to play unfortunatly, because they were just showing the demo. Overall, the demo sucked ass, they were not highliting the game play enough and kept cutting to a stupid commercial for the game with Zico and some kid. they really did not show much, but from what I could see, it looked good. The graphics are smoother, you can really make out all the player faces well. And the animations look way better, and I got to see a new move that was performed by Beckham, it looked pretty good. I really wish i could have played, to get a better impression. I might try the same store at a different location to see if I can have a chance to play, and if I do, I will update this thread.

 

[larsson]

Please post in here ONLY if you have played the game

 

[hitmanuk2k]

From Riot of IGN and Evo-Web

Those who know me from posting about PES3 and at IGN know I'm legit so..I got WE8 minutes ago!!!!!!!!! I'll be writing full hands-on impressions for IGN tonight I hope, but here's some quick stuff.

The feel is the same yet very different. Presentation is all new. the fonts, the backgrounds, etc all new. Much better than before. Everythings in japanese though, so even if you knew WE7I inside out, you'll have some problems to understand what the new options are. And theres loads of them. The main menu has big icons with englis text (League, Exhibition, Options etc) which you scroll left or right. Nice. FAST loading times too.
You CAN change player names, stadium and cup names right away and I think you can also mess around the team strategies without buying it in the WE Shop.

I've played three matches so far. Compared to WE7I you can dribble easier, you dont lose the abll right away..skill players are pretty good at getting around players.

Individual animations!!! Noticeable with Ronaldo, Becks and Raul (I played with Madrid)

Pretty out of date teams since it takes 8 weeks to get approval. So no Samuel in Real, which tells you where we are at. However the rosters are larger and I was able to load up a large amount of English names from my WE7I save. I just noticed switching players from team to team is VERY easy. In the edit menyu there's a separate option for it and you just click a payer, then select the team you want him and he's there...no need to scroll around for an empty slot where to insert him!!!

The presentation and cut-scenes during gameplay dont interfere with the gamepaly at all, they really help make the athmospere better.

Ok back to playing...

some photos I snapped to prove this

http://www.scene.org/~riot/WE8

 

[dannyboy20]

Here are riots other posts @ evo-web:

The English teams are as follows:
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Charlton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, the team that Dabizas plays in (sorry), Liverpool, Man City, Man United (with Eagles!), Middlesborough, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottemham, team that has luzhny and Ganea...isnt that all of the premiership?

I dont have time to take photos etc explain everything. Suffice to say, based on two matches, the gameplay is superb. A bit slower pace, ball feels heavier, none of the messed up speed differentials that were in WE7I Jap and also the stats seem pretty good (ie. Kleberson and Edu are much better)

The kits look good enough atleast on AC Milan and Real.

The player models are great! Much more round than before and the faces are much improved both in modeling, textures and animation.

About the new dribbles...to be honest, I dont know how to do them yet...I've seen some nice individual animations on Ronaldo, but as for the new tricks I dunno how to do them yet...the pratice mode is Extensive with loads of tips on how to do everything complete with examples so I'm gonna have to check that out in more in-depth.

There IS a lot of different animations for moves..so not everyone crosses in the same way...some players lean back, some like Ronaldo pass more on their outer sole of the foot (which looks really cool, just like he did at Euro 2004).

Based on about 7 years of playing the series I'd have to say I've never had had this good first impression on the game...like in WE7I in the ball's bouncing off players and difficult to dribble things caught my eye, but in WE8 nothing feels wrong..but that's after 6 matches. The ball physics are great...as is the player movement. Like in WE7I you can cause free-kicks by just running into players without using X or a tackle. But it feels really right here whereas in WE7I it was a bit uneven.

Heading is improved over WE7I too.

I've tried long pass methods 1 and 5. Now with 1 you can centre the ball quite accurately. The Short passing seems more accurate too, actually a whole lot more accurate.

The players faces look really, really good. Scholesy looks incredible. Also the jerseys get dirties (socks and shorts so far) and it looks great. Also there are creases in the shirt textures and small bits like that.

The AI feels really good...the centrebacks seem better, they didnt get out of position that bad. You can also control the keeper by pressing L1 and Triangle, when you do that you can control him fullly, so I tried that in a one on one situation and it worked great!

Trading players into other teams is SO painless now. Just click on a team, then player, then the team you want him in and thats' it. The empty slots are automatically filled. None of this pain in the ass scroll down, find empty slot etc crap.

I dont have the capability of taking videos (frustrates me too) and to be blunt, I dont care about the variety of boots. Though Beck's Adida's look exactly right

Couple of weird things...I dont where the stadium change and difficulty level options are yet

So far, so incredibly good...just incredible stuff really.

 

[dannyboy20]

Here is Riot's full review:

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/534/534598p1.html

 

[dannyboy20]

More info from Riot:

Hey guys,

thanks for the props on the preview. I havent touched Master League yet. I went through the extensive training challenges yesterday and after looking at the CPU teaching me the new tricks, I havent been able to pull half of them off. Like there's this weird move preceeding a cross where you just let the ball run for a bit and then you speed up..its difficult to explain, it's mainly just a changing pace, but I dont know how to pull it off. There seems to be some dribbles that can be only done with the Right Analogue stick (not just the roulette move) which I've managed to do randomly.

What is the double-x pass? You can definitely affect the strenght of the X-button pass as I hold the button down, the player takes an extra bit longer to let go of the pass and then he his it so the ball travels very fast. It's very cool especially to use in the midfield.

There is a a LOT of new tackling animations, both for the tackle and the consequences.
You can really body check players and they go flying, it looks very cool. We were all very impressed by those animations when we played last nite. You know how you try to catch up an forward with a defender for a tackle, then kind of bend your legs around his legs to get the ball...that move looks so awesome in WE8.

I spent about five hours updating the teams and changing the names into english. Pretty depressing now that there's double the teams. Luckily you can very easily now switch players between teams and you can immediately change the strategies and line-ups instead of having to buy that in the WE-shop. The shop has tons more stuff but I havent bought anything yet. I didnt realize just how many key playes have switched teams this summer, it'll be an interesting season. I'm really hoping PES4 will have some updated teams because as much it's part of the WE/PES expericence, changins the names is a major pain the ass due to larger amount of teams.

To be honest, I realize there's lots of new things under the hood but I havent been able to pull them off. I tried to pull of Ronaldo's special cross but to no avail, I think it just randomly happens instead you being able to pull it off consistently.

I've now played the game for two days and some mates have tried who are hardcore as I am. All of us think this is the best game in the series so far, nothing feels a tad wrong like it did in WE7I for example. It all feels right. Though I'm sure Fowler will find something to hate in this game too.

I'm still trying to generate a list of all the teams, but it's a bit time-consuming You CAN change non-licensed team names, so you can tell which teams are which in the team selection. however licensed teams (Spanis, Italian and Dutch) names cannot be changed and they are in Japanese, so I dont half of the dutch teams or the italians in there since all the players names are in Japanese. The names are correct on the backs of the players but as you know it's a slow process to go through all of them.

Another thing..the Dutch players in their club teams look amazing. Too bad Cocu isnt in the national team anymore as he looks amazingly lifelike. He IS in the national team in WE8, but looks wrong..like all the dutch players. Now, I think you CAN put the club team dutch players into the national team...I think. So maybe this way one can easily get the correct player faces into the team...I dabbled with the face building option but man,it's much more complex than before and it seems there's no ready 150 face models, rather you gotta build them up...which makes it pretty damn difficult.

There's smart stuff in the menus, like when you switch players from a team to another, the cursor stays where you leave it, so when you change multiple players into the same team, it's faster. Also you can from the start change national team players and this is well done too..you go the national team you want and click, and you get a full list of all the selected nations players, so it's easy to pick the players you want.

I looked at the jersey editor and it looks exactly like it did in WE7I, ie strange. I havent messed around with it, since the club teams I use have the correct jerseys. Well not the english but anyways.

The rosters are a bit deeper! nowhere near FIFA's but atleast there's more reserve players, so Real has Jurado, Juanfran, Meijia (well he was in the A-team last season to be honest) and ManU has guys like Chris Eagles and some others I now forget.

There's a boatload of stadiums and it pisses me off I dont know half of them. I think they are presented in the same order as in WE7I so I'm gonna load that game up and write the names down since I have them in English there. The Bernabeu isnt in WE8 sadly, but Nou Camp looks Exactly like it does in real-life...the stadiums really look quite a bit better mainly thanks to better lighting and color palette than before.

It's impossible for me to go through all the stats...BUT it does seem that Konami has taken a step into more realistic stats as quite a few of the teams I tried had most of their guys over 60 per skill, which to me is realistic. You are not gonna find a completely crap player in a big team. I was glad to notice my home country Finland had some improved stats for players like Forssel and they even had Eremenko Jr in there with okayish stats. Guys like Edu, Vieira and Gerrard finally have realistic stats. Also guys like Beckham have more realistic stats as he's slower thanbefore but he's improved in other areas.

I cannot believe I did this, but i just stopped,loaded the game up and took a bunch of shots of various players (Fowler, Gerrard just for you buddy). Doh!

New player mugs at
Winning Eleven 8 bad quality player mugshots

Riot

 

[Zygalski]

Injury animations rule. Wiltord got injured in a match against Spain. The player who fouled him used body language for accepting the yellow card from the ref, but still worried about the injured player. Then Desailly pushes him off and attends to Wiltord. He's then carried off in a stretcher and comes back a few minutes later. Really great stuff. I love these new cut scenes.

I also like the little touches, like no calls. Ronaldinho gets taken down and makes motions like, "WHERE WAS THE CALL?!?!" DID YOU SEE THAT??!?" There are also great animations for dives.

No calls are pretty sweet. Henry gets a pass, and he's clearly offsides. All the Spain defenders raise their hands in support of an offsides call. Play goes on and he scores. The goal celebrations are 1000 times better now.

First let me say that the game is terrific. Like Riot said, you can really feel the difference between controlling someone like Cristiano Ronaldo and Charisteas. The crossing is marvellous, the double-tap cross clears the first man a lot better, and you really do aim the crossing yourself this time.

The tackling is FINALLY sorted, so many animations for tackling, and you don't get blown for the usual 50/50 but good tackle types like you do in all other WE games. They have finally fixed it.

I've only played 3 games so far, but let me say, playing in the De Kuip with the sun shining for the first time is truly memorable. The shadows on the pitch, the beautiful goal nets, so nice. I'll post more on gameplay when I play some more games.

Teams - loads and loads of French/German teams, can't remember them all. Seems like all last year's CL teams are there, including Partizan Belgrade, Besiktas and AEK ATHENS FOR POLAKIS!!! Fenerbahce are no longer in the game. South American clubs = Boca, River Plate and *I think* the Brasilian club is Cruziero. Also, Club Brugge are in.

Slowdown - I really have not noticed it so much that I am bothered, very very minimal from what I've seen.

I like the game so far. Speed is slower then WE7I. Manual passes work better in my opinion. Especially the hight ones.
And now you really need to pay attention at the strikers. One fault and they are gone . And thats good.
Shooting from distance seems harder. Many shots go wide or are too weak.
Freekicks can be done alone or indirect with another player from left or right. But i didnt manage to make him pass the ball yet. He always faked a pass and my player shot.
Headers are much harder then in WE7I. And thats the point! :
Almost everytime you do a lob into penalty area or make a corner there is slowdown. And then you cant get the positions right. It seems like the game is going into replay mode for a few secs. I already changed the cam from wide to far. That made it slightly better. But i dont know why konami didnt work that out. Im sure they will with pes4. But why not in we8 yet? Thats really the only bad thing i can say about the game. But in some situations that issue takes a big role (dont know better in english .
Ahh i forgot the refs decide very good. Only one red card yet. And that was a clear one. Because the striker was on its way 1on1 with goalie. But many other situations, where you got a yellow or red card in we7, you get nothing or a yellow card.

I have to say this is the biggest change in terms of gameplay "feel" I have ever noticed between consecutive WE games.

The ball is heavier, and also more detached from the player. The first touch is more important and you have to shield the ball more, or turn away from the defender. If you just hold R1 as you get the ball, it pushes the ball further from you than in WE7I. Ball physics better.

Colour scheme bolder and darker than before. More contrast. Faces better.

Passing seems more delayed than in previous versions even if you tap the X button. Initially did not like this but you actually compensate by pressing it earlier. Feels better after 3 games: in WE7I, felt more like pinball. The searching pass (held X longer) is a double-edged sword. Less accurate but much stronger than normal. Good tactical variation in this button now.

Shooting is stronger. For long shots, approaching from the right wing, I smacked a hard shot, and it was definitely NOT outside of the foot. More like a full blast, curling inwards not out.

The forwards' AI is much improved. Henry makes deadly runs, taking me by surprise in the first 2 games. Midfielders make darting runs down the middle everytime you leave too much space. Much better than before.

NO CATCH UP!!!. If you let Henry past you, it is tough to wrestle him off the ball let alone catch him!

Slowdown appears on corners... not stuttery... still smooth, but slower. Players seem less responsive as a consequence. Slowdown also when taking a goal-kick in the close-up shot behind the keeper.

In general, there is a big difference between a player in full flight and one that is static. You really feel that the player becomes very dangerous in full flight. Dribbling using R2 step over is very much smoother, but the timing seems different from WE7I.

PKs : No power bar. Same old crap.

The far view (furthest one) now seems closer to the pitch than before.

Referee does not get in the way. Excellent addition, watching him run over to the player to book him, before changing to the close up shot.

Not tried crossing the ball using the new D-pad controls yet.

Do not think there is a quick FK... unless anyone knows how to do it.

In general, think this will be the best yet. Lots to learn, and seems more difficult than WE7I. Playing 5* of course.

The transfers are very simple, it sorts a lot of things out for you, already I have done most major ones. However I can't figure out how to release a player to the free agent pool yet.

I just scored for Barca with Giuly @ De Kuip vs Feyenoord, it went to a cut scene of him celebrating and he was running behind adboards blowing kisses to the crowd .

For the guy who said he can't see SAmerican teams, they are there, 100% sure.

Slowdown will depend on your view, I hardly notice it using FAR view, but I guess WIDE would make it worse.



Also meant to say, the choices of kits in edit mode is appauling, really poor selection of kits, with not a single vertical or horizontal striped top available.

Also, you cannot edit the names of the licensed teams at all, which means the name shown on team select menu is always Japanese .

Hope someone can sort this soon.

 

[larsson]

Just got it, played a few short matches, some impressions (a more detailed review will follow in 2-3 days)

Negative:
- Some stupid animations, eg for shots and passes (too often with the pike or outside of the foot)
- Keepers are not improved, at least not much
- Clear Slowdowns at almost EVERY corner

Positive:
- Refs ok, often you don´t get even a booking for fouls which ended in a ridicolous red card in WE7
- Some new nice animations for fouls, tacklings
- Good advantage rule
- Graphics slightly better, some great faces there, however I´d say most of the faces look like in WE7:I
- Pitches look better now, only played in 3 different stadiums so far though
- Passes improved, slower compared to WE7:I, have imo a perfect speed
- Gameplay slower than in WE7:I
- Shots are better, the power bar isn´t that sensitive anymore
- Crosses have the perfect speed, between WE7 and WE7:I
- Good balance between individual actions and team play.

 

[dannyboy20]

Here's mine:

I've played a few matches so far and it feels soo different to previous versions. I've only played a few matches so far and im finding it hard to get any decent shots in etc. But here we go:


Graphics & Presentation
--------------------------------

They have improved the graphics soo much. The licensed kits really do look good, they aren't "washed out" like we've seen in pics lately.

The main menu's are pretty easy to navigate, and if you're used to previous versions you'll understand the basics straight away. The menu's are really slick and so is the loading time between them, it only takes a few seconds for you to kick off your match from the main menu.

On the pitch, they've improved it big time. The players really do look good, so much better than PES3. The cut-scenes in the game are soooo good. You'll see the keeper placing down the ball, Becks putting the ball down for a corner, subs patting teammates on the back when the leave and players getting injured and being stretchered off (only to return to the game a few minutes later!).


Gameplay
------------

Now what I can I say? I think you all already know the answer, its amazing What strikes you first is the ball doesn't stick to your player, you can lose it easy if you push the ball too far in front of you.

The new passing system really does work. Hold the X button for longer and you will skip players nearest you out, it really opens up the game. Same with long passes, they seem to have improved and become a lot more accurate now, especially if you're passing with Becks.

The crosses are first class too. You can put it where you want, 9 directions on the dpad represent the different areas of the goal. In one of my first games, Beckham broke down the wing after the CPU's left back lost the ball. He got to the edge of the box and put in a first class ball in, exactly where i wanted it, in front of Owen on his head.

The main thing im pleased about is there isn't a catch up system. If you've got someone Owen, running at full pace and goes round you, there's no way you're catching him. In my first first match, the ball broke to Owen near the center circle. He soon started running at the defender, I did a quick step over and pushed the ball to the left of the defender, I was past him and there was no one anyone was catching me. It reminded me sooooo much of his goal against Argentina, except this time, i didnt score...

The tackling has improved too. No more fouls for winning the ball fairly. Slide in from the front, play carries on if you get the ball. Finally they've fixed it! There are a few irritating things such as pushing players off the ball using X but they are fouls most of the time to be honest.

I haven't really got the hang of the shooting yet. The ball seems heavier and has more dip on it. I'm finding it really hard to get a decent shot in outside the box, I really need more practice here.

Free Kicks. These are great. Push select and a 2nd player will stand over the ball. Push R1 then and he will touch the ball in front of him so you can shoot or pass or whatever. Hold L1 and he will quickly take the free kick. I'm pretty sure you can fool keepers/defenders with this, I haven't had many free kick chances yet though.

AI. I'm only playing on 4 stars. I usually end up drawing but they've definitely improved. i could see a major different when playing someone like Morocco, compared to France.


Options
----------

Edit mode. There are 9 boots in the game. 4 Pred Pulses, 3 F-50's, Total 90 III rip off(editable), Weird Puma rip off(editable). There may be more unlockable?

There's plenty of things to buy in the WE Shop. I will post a list of them soon as they've already been translated.

I haven't touched the transfer mode yet but everyones saying its easy and there from the start.

There does seem to be a sponsor editor! At least, you can put writing and shapes anywhere on the front of the shirt. I haven't really looked at it yet but there definitely is some sort of sponser editor.


Faults
--------

There aren't any real gameplay faults i've found yet, but there is definite slowdown in a packed area for corners or free kicks. It will definitely be annoying for some people, but I can live with it. It doesn't actually stutter or anything, just slows down. It can be fixed by turning the crowd off/down and sound etc though.

 

[doctor_Evil_2nd]

Yeah i agree feels very different in game, but in training mode somehow very similar its strange. I too am having difficulty with shots.

Also players control is sometimes woeful and they do fancy outside of the foot passes which look a bit odd at times.

The best improvement by miles is the tackling animation and decisions, went a hole match without getting a needless yellow which used to be rare.

Corners, free kicks etc all very different, will take some getting used too.


Presentation is ok, the intro scenes are nothing special.

Now im off to play more, if only i could read jap!! Hard to figure out what the teams mean now the flags have changed.

 

[larsson]

Here´s my little review, after about 20 matches, mostly on 4*

First of all the menus have a complete new structure and are much brighter, personally I don´t care that much about it, but it´s very decent. They´re user-friendly as always. Also the menu music has changed, no Japan-Techno-Pop anymore, a bit more rock style.
You can play the 3 licensed leagues, and you can create an own league with up to 20 teams. Haven´t touched ML, edit mode or cup mode yet.

Lets have a look at the gameplay. I should start with the negative things. Keepers aren´t improved, also their animations are still the same, at least I haven´t seen any new animations. In those 20 matches I´ve conceded at least 5 goals which came from stupid keeper AI.
Passes, well, for some reasons 1/3 of the passes are totally stupid outside of the foot or pike passes, even when there´s no need for that. It spoils the new passing system, which is great, a little bit.
Another thing, slowdowns, there are slowdowns, at almost every corner. It doesn´t happen when I cross normally during the game though. I´m using the normal camera, not the wide-angle.
Haven´t noticed any great inside of the foot kicks so far, except in the penalty area in 1 on1 situations with the keeper

But lets get to the positive aspects of the game
There´s much more freedom in the players movement, it´s not so exaggerated like in FK though. It takes some time till you get used to it, but it´s very realistic. The controls are more sensitive than in WE7, the players react better and faster to eg changes of direction compared to WE7.
Also more variety for :x: passing, you can chose whether you want to pass to the player who´s next to you or to a player who stands a long way off. For example the LB passes directly to the RB, without using the central defenders. Through passes are improved, looks like offensive players are more active and are running into open spaces with much more intensity. I´ve had a great situation while playing with Liverpool, Riise was on the left wing, then I suddenly saw that Kewell is accelerating, I pressed :triangle:, Kewell overtook his defender at full speed, tried to cross, but the opponent fouled him with a desperate tackling in the last moment, the animation of the falling Kewell was superb btw.
:L1: + :triangle: passes are very effective for counter-attacks, however I haven´t found the right timing yet.
Crosses are superb, they´re not as slow as in WE7, but not rocket-like, like in WE7:I. The speed is almost perfect, so is the aiming. It´s a bit harder to get into a good header position than in previous versions though.
The power bar for shots seems not to be that sensitive anymore.
The refs are ok, I haven´t conceded any stupid ridicolous red card like in WE7. The animations for tacklings and fouls are fantastic, sometimes if you tackle an opponent hard (but clean) and the ref doesn´t call a foul the player doesn´t stand up but sits on the ground waving his arms and looking at the ref while hoping for a free kick.
There are many different referees, some are more strict some are less. The advantage rule was adapted from WE7:I I think, it´s almost perfect, not screwed up like in PES3 or WE7. Haven´t noticed any handballs yet.
Then there are also a few details like special animations for corners (eg Beckham, Pires), different nets in different stadiums, the non-original kits don´t look dull anymore, seems that some keepers have also long pants, not only shorts. Maybe we had this also in WE7:I, can´t remember anymore

 

[robokun]

Well, I have only played a few games and I am struggling, so I put it on 1 star, and imo the keepers are quite good, Dudek saved about 7 top shots from me..

What I have noticed, that penalties are much more random, I hit the post 3 times in 1 shootout with Man UTD, plus the keeper does alot more saves now..

I dont like the tackles so far, sometimes when I plan to get the ball by sticking a foot in, he does some wierd slie where he falls back and trips them up from behind.., which gives me a yellow card.

I aint sen a hand ball yet, the advantage rule is amazing, when they pass it and you crunch the person who passed a peach, the referee waives on.

Passes are quite better, when you hold X in they seem to be harder.

When players run with the ball, it looks wierd...but I will get used to it.

The movement is more harder than in PES3, so I need to get used to that..

Biggest let downs, bar the Japanese text, has to be the shots..you need to put it like 3/4 full to get a decent shot..need to get used to it.

And IMO the ball dips too much from crosses or free kicks. And the headers are alot better, now I dont score 10/10 headers from a cross, its more like 2/10.

Just the usual upgrades, better graphics, much more detail in the faces, although the Deco face looks nothing like him imo, every other face is good, from what I seen..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ashmufc - You just hold the pass button in for like a second and release, and it goes further and faster..

 

[robokun]

Huh?....

Sorry to go off-topic, but has anyone translated any menus yet, bar the shop ones?

----------------------------------------------

Well, what made it hard for me was getting through there defence, then trying to score was the most impossible thing..

The computer is good, I had it on 3 stars and was getting tanned 4-0 after about 30 mins into a 10-minute game..

They make good runs up the wings to cross it in etc, or they dribble through your defence and send a high-through ball to there forwards, and the keeper doesnt do nothing so they just score.

From what I played so far, they are quick at getting up front, unlike PRO3 where they dittered about, now they just rip up the field..

I dont know if it is like this every game, I only played about 2 full matches, both ended on penalties, and I lost both. I was Man UTD and hit the post 3 times, my last 2 shots where off the post..

Penalties seem alot harder, the keeper saves it more, unless you hit the post.

 

[larsson]

Guys, there is a questions thread, post only in here if you have the game and want to share your opinions about it with us. Thank you.
There are some menu translations, not a patch though. Lami translated a bit, unfortunately the server where the pic were on is offline.

 

[larsson]

Finally the pitch in the Amsterdam Arena looks like a football pitch
If you´d like to know which players are in your favourite team, feel free to ask in the questions thread, I can´t post all though Generally the squads are from the 2003/2004 season, Crespo and Veron are still at Chelsea for example. Btw Chelsea ist called "Telfy"
There are about 4 South American teams in, I think the only team which was in previous versions and was taken out for WE8 is Fenerbahce, they´ve put Besiktas in instead.

 

[jorge2112]

I just got it and finished America Cup (and got 1500 WEN). The victory celebrations are pretty much the same, but the medals now bopunce on the player's chests when they're jumping. All the players, refs and etc have some "white shine" during the night matches, because of the mighty lamps from the stadiums. There are also some details in the stadium flags near the crowds. One of the has "El Equipo Incencible" (The Invincible Team) written on it, featuring your team's color. For example, Brazil's banner has a yellow background, green letters and the Brazilian flag. There's also the "Estamos en Racha" banner (wtf?! Does anybody know what "racha" means in Spanish? It does not make any sense in Portuguese...).
I also found it harder to score from Freekicks and, as you guys already pointed out, the power bar must be filled a bit more to get a decent shot.
By the way, all the menus are very slick, with nice background pictures and great work on the colors. The loading screens are almost gone, featuring Jon Kabira talking before the match (while showing the stadium) while the game loads (there's a little cd icon in the lower lft corner of the screen). Oh, and it shows your player inside the tunnel before they enter the field, to go out in the middle of some reporters (which seem a lot better, but still frozen in their places).
I scored a few goals (so did the cpu) and some we're ruld as offside. The nice thing about is that the ref blows the whistle (didn't chck for animation... sorry!), but the game continues and sometimes you score. The player goes on celebrating, but Jon Kabira states it was an offside, and the lineman is shown holding his flag. The match is then resumed.
On hard fouls, the ref and the players talk (sorta of a "What?!? No card?! You gotta be kidding!). And sometimes the ref does not give a card, only pats the playr who commited the foul on the shoulder, warning him.
Uh.. I guess that's all for now. I'll play the Africa Cup and then write some more.

 

[jorge2112]

Uhn... That gust of wind thing is weird, indeed. I don't have a clue about what Konami meant with th Racha thing. By the way, when one wins the Africa Cup, he receives 1500 WEN. Oh, and I just played Real Madrid X Barcelona. Right before the kick-off, each team's crest in drawn on the grass. Nice.

 

[jorge2112]

Asia Cup also pays you 1500 WEN. I was using Japan and the crowd was screaming "Nippon! Nippon!". After many 2P matches playing Milan vs Porto, I found out that Kaka is REALLY great in WE8. His stats must be top notch. Seriously, he made all the difference in my attacks and scored more goals then Sheva. The Porto Club is also very nice and the match was balanced. There were banners written "Forza" from Milan supporters in the stadium. Couldn't read the other banners though...
Oh, one thing about the injuries. Sheva got injured during the game and was pulled out by the doctors. I got a message that I would be playing without him for some time, and then another icon (orange) showed up. Sheva was injured and would not return. I haven't seen an occasion were the player gets "injured" (status box with a little dash) and then returns to the field yet...
I also found out some dribbles by accident, but I'm not sure how to perform them. They just pop up from time to time.
For the Latin American fans, there are mock-up club squads for Boca Juniors, River Plate and one that **seems** like Cruzeiro (dubbed "Ku-ge-i-don").

 

[subbuteoking]

Brit who just played WE8 in Japan

I am a Brit who is working for the US government in Japan, and I just came back from the Yamada electronics store just outside of Yokota AB, and have some initial impressions of WE8 after playing it for about 30 mins in the store.

I got to mess with the menus a little bit and play about 3 short matches at different stadiums each time. I did not get to mess with editing, the master league etc...as they were obviously in Japanese and I couldn't understand those features.

Let me start by saying, do not expect to be "blown away" by this latest edition. It seems konami as done a lot of "fine tuning" and made a few additions to the WE7 game, but hasn't dramatically altered anything, which is good I suppose. Bottom line, I think WE fans will be pleased with WE8s improvements except for one negative, which I will touch on later.

The menus are all a lot more colourful and seem a lot more logical, although like I said they are all in japanese so I can't really give too much info on this. The main menu is very nice and much improved from before. The graphics and presentation have been tweaked and look better/smoother maybe, but not dramatically improved. The stadiums, crowd and pitch all seem to be improved and appear more realistic, not quite on par with FIFA though. The aggravating PS2 shimmer that was evident on some of the nets and the barriers in WE7 seems to have been minimized. There seems to be a ton of new animations and this is probably the biggest improvement in gameplay. Watching the players interact on the field is a joy as the new animations add to the reality of the game. Players also seem to act more intelligently by making runs into open space and responding to the ball rather than waiting for it. Basically, players just seem to move more independently and intelligently and the ball seems to be able to roll or bounce anywhere. Additionally, The ball also seems slightly bigger and is probably the perfect size now. It also now seems easier to make a run at a defender and pass him, which feels really nice just like watching it on TV. Once you get past the defender, there doesn't seem to be anymore rubberband style cathup, which is great and allows terrific one-on-ones with the keeper. The referee looks good on the field, running with the play, back peddling when necessary, and doesn't seem to get in the way of play. However, one time I made a pass and it pinged off his leg, which was cool, realistic and thus acceptable. Set pieces and off-side rulings are definately improved and are not shown at awkward/limiting angles as before in WE7. During throw-ins you basically move the player who is throwing the ball and throw it to any of the other players who seem to automatically jossle for postion. free-kicks are improved and the addition of the indirect free kick is sweet. I couldn't figure out how to do the through ball with the triangle button and L1, but I probably needed to adjust that in the setup. However, I did get to move the goal keeper independently with the triangle and L1 button and it worked great--be careful however, that's all I can say! Practice will be needed here. One major improvement during gameplay is that the ball seems to curl/swurve more now during passes, shots and corner kicks and free kicks. However, it doesn't appear to curl like FIFA which is probably best. It does look good though and was definately needed I think. The extra time feature, or "loss time" as it was labelled on the screen was nice. At the end of full time a digital style indicator will indicate how much time has been added. However, it doesn't show the time elapsing which is slightly annoying--so you basically have to guess how much time is left... During gameplay I did notice gloves which were cool, although I'm not sure what season i was playing in, hopefully it was the colder months.

As I mentioned before, the only possible negative aspect I have to report about WE8 (and this "could" be a big one), based on my 30 mins of play, is that the gameplay/movement of the ball and players seems to have been slowed down, and the ball sometimes seems a little too floaty and doesn't ping like WE7. When I say the gameplay has slowed down, I'm talking about the framerate I think, it just seems to move at less FPS..? I always thought WE played a tad too fast sometimes and didn't give you time to "look-up" for moving players and runs, as if the players were always running when they should be walking fast sometimes... more like FIFA 2004... But this is not what I mean when I say the gameplay has slowed, what I do mean is that sometimes the gameplay almost seems sluggish... hopefully it will be improved for PES4 and WE8 in the US. Realize, I was also playing this on one of those cheap 14 inch TVs that they have rigged up in the stores, so this may have been a factor...

I did not notice uniforms getting dirty, but I did notice a couple more tackling animations which looked authentic and are very welcome.

Cutscenes and replays seem to be improved and implemented well, and the player likenesses have been positively tuned, although not much different to WE7 really.

Well, that's my initial impressions of WE8 after playing it for 30 mins on a booth in a Japanese store. It's looking good, not revolutionary, which WE fans wouldn't expect anyway.